The future is unknowable. This uncertainty presents many issues particularly in the field of network planning. If the future was known, the proper number of resources could be acquired and positioned to form a network today that ensures capacity is available to satisfy the expected network demand. The network plan provides capacity by planning transmissions to and from various locations. The network plan may specify the time for each transmission and equipment used for the transmission. In this way, the position of a given piece of equipment may change as the network plan is executed. The difficulty in estimation is further compounded by the fluid nature of the resources forming the network.
Current planning may be performed by fixing a schedule and then assigning resources to meet the fixed schedule. Such planning techniques can lead to underutilized resources or over utilized resources, which may in turn lead to network inefficiencies. For example, it may use resources to maintain a piece of equipment. Ideally, the benefit of maintaining the piece of equipment should meet or exceed the amount of resources needed to maintain the piece of equipment. When planning a network starting from a fixed schedule, such resources may not be identified or leveraged in the final network plan.